Earlier this year, at the Billboard Music Awards, Beyonce got a special tribute that made her sound like the Nelson Mandela of booty-shaking, and she also performed her then-new single “Run The World (Girls)”. The performance was visually interesting, stunning even. But within 24 hours, critics pounced and pointed out that Bey had borrowed/stolen/hijacked large chunks of the performance from an Italian pop artist named Lorella Cuccarini. Beyonce issued a statement saying that Cuccarini was an obvious influence, she had seen it and tried to her own take. “Her own take” = grabbing several chunks.
So, now Beyonce has a new single and a new video out – “Countdown”. We covered it last week, and I hated both the song and the video (and the disappearing and reappearing baby bump). I thought it looked like Bey was jacking from Funny Face, West Side Story, and other people mentioned Flashdance and some other films too. Honestly, the video is a too-jerky, too-rapidly-edited mess. And now Beyonce is being accused of outright theft once again. This time, she allegedly (or not so) stole some dance and imagery from Belgian choreographer Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker. Here’s a side-by-side that someone put together:
Can you plagiarize a concept? Can you steal a visual setup? My opinion? Yes, you can. That’s the opinion of Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker too! She told a Danish blog, “I didn’t know anything about this. I’m not mad, but this is plagiarism. This is stealing. They took pieces from Achterland and Rosas danst Rosas. … It’s a bit rude, I must say. … What’s rude about it is that they don’t even bother about hiding it. They seem to think they could do it because it’s a famous work. … Am I honored? Look, I’ve seen local school kids doing this. That’s a lot more beautiful.” Ha. Awesome. But Beyonce‘s “co-director” told MTV, “I brought Beyoncé a number of references and we picked some out together. Most were German modern-dance references, believe it or not. But it really evolved.” I hope Bey comes out (again) and explains what she was thinking.
Photos courtesy of Columbia Records, WENN.
Go away !
Here we go again?Ok she has taken “inspiration”, she has paid tribute to, but with all her money can she buy a good team of creative people?
I think she (and her team) are running out of good ideas.
That’s why she is doing a lot of research, not in order to be original but to steal some from others.
She doesn’t need money, she is successful, she got more than she actually deserved. I mean, she has talent, but more in a commercial way, I wouldn’t call her an artist, but a very good saleswoman. Having said that, why doesn’t she just take a break till she has a new and original product to sell to her customers?
I don’t get why Beyonce can not come up with her OWN concept from start to finish?
To think Jay Z called her ‘the second comming of Michael Jackson’
As far as I remeber, Michael did what no other did before him. Never stole someones ideas and past them off as his own.
When asked in interviews,She writes all her songs….until someone else (Ne-Yo for 1) states otherwise. She choreographs all her dance moves….until someone else proves otherwise. I don’t believe ish she says anymore.
She’s pretty silly.
Beyonce has NEVER been original. Between fake writing credits, plagiarism, outright lying and copying, God knows how she can be called a true artist. An amazing performer, yes. Artist? Nope.
So many questions…
Why ‘danish’ choreographer in the title and ‘blegian’ in the text?
Why can’t she get ‘inspired’ on her own and produce something new instead of having some underling drop by with routines they think they can get away with as they are foreign? Someone tell them the internet is global… 🙂
And why is she white on the last picture for the album and looking like a cross between Kylie and Eva Mendes?
dumb stealing bitch.
Did B and her choreographer think they were going to get a away with their plagiarism?
I am an avid Audrey Hepburn fan and also noticed the Funny Face hijacking.
Audrey’s version is way better! Biased perhaps, clearly, yes.
Beyonce always is accused of stealing something from someone else. She has never been original.
Not the first and I am sure it would not be the last. Bey is lacking originality
if Beyonce was sincere about the inspiration she would have stated the sources upfront. Especially after the last time she was accused for stealing that performance. If stealing was never her intention she would have changed her way of releasing the video this time. She didn’t. That says enough for me.
She really needs to stop with these copy/paste videos that only consist of a bunch of scenes thrown together. I can’t even tell them apart anymore.
god, i wish she would just go away.
I am so over her. Go have your baby and relax. She is so overkill.
OMG alot of you need to get over selves. Climb off your high horses and chill. Beyonce never said SHE was the creative force behind her work. Here is the main problem with people complaining about stuff like this. Did Beyonce ever claim to have come up with her vidoes all by herself? No. We all copy stuff we see and admire. Please people list something original you have done all week. I bet you can’t.
People are getting far to annoying with this original crap. The problem is Beyonce is more visible then the person who did a dance she was inspired by so all of a sudden it has to be stealing. Its just inspiration. Its not stealing.
Whats even more annoying is that Beyonce is a perfectly sweet girl and she doesn’t need to steal anyone’s anything.
I too wish she would go away. Maybe/ hopefully she will take time off when she has her baby. She loves to steal and act like it’s original until she’s called out. I get that nothing is new anymore, it’s all been done, but to copy frame for frame smh change it up a bit. This is part of the reason I never liked her. She just seems phony and insincere.
Everything unique about her videos, songs, dance moves has been blatantly stolen, er excuse me, “inspired” from/by other people. Check out the series on YouTube about her “inspired” videos, moves and songs. Starting with ” Crazy in Love” which was totally stolen from the Chi-Lites!
@LoveAngelina- Actually, you are wrong. She has a few interviews where she says that her songs, videos and costumes are ALL HER. She states very plainly that she IS the creative force behind everything. Sorry to correct you, but I will post a video link where she says those very things.
Here’s the YouTube link-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwNpeEFIISo
Maybe Nikki Minaj should call her out on that blink-y plastic-y face thing she has going on in the video too.
“Beyonce never said SHE was the creative force behind her work.”
Oh, really?
Click me!
Beyonce is a perfectly sweet girl and she doesn’t need to steal anyone’s anything.
_________________________________
Yet she does. Far too often. People do sample and copy but they try to be less obvious about it and/or acknowledge it. She says nothing until someone says something. If she is paying people to write her songs or come up with ideas for her videos then she needs to hold them accountable. Find out where the ideas are coming from and if they are “inspired” then let it be known. Either she knows good and well that she copying or she has no control over career which I don’t believe. She is the one getting the backlash and looking like a theiving fool.
So, Beyonce and her team just sit and look at footage of work that’s been done before, and decide which ones to copy, rather than spend that time coming up with something original?
SO lame. Wonder how many other ideas she’s stolen and just hasn’t been caught.
This puts a bad taste in my mouth, really it does. This sort of “borrowing” added to the way Jay-Z and his team speak of Beyonce as the most talented person to ever live, really make me sick. It’s not just a lack of modesty, its outright shamelessness. It’s really gross.
@SEF- Ck out the links posted by me and tapioca and you will see EVERY idea is stolen, oops, I mean “inspired” by someone else.
BS Pyewacket not every idea is stolen. Seriously Beyonce never claimed it was her idea. Never said that.
LoveAngelina- She plainly states ALL of her songs are written by her, that she does ALL her video treatments and decides what to wear. EVERY idea IS stolen whether you care to admit it or not.
You must be very young because it is clear you have no knowledge of early Motown, blues or hip hop. Educate yourself a bit on early forms of music, and you will see that most of Beyonce’s is stolen from other artists. I am not trying to be mean, but honestly, you really need to stop drinking the Kool-Aid.
Anyway, believe what you like, but the rest of us know what we are talking about and so do many writers from Rolling Stone who have talked about Beyonce’s stolen melodies, rifs and lyrics. Google some time, you might be shocked at what you read about her.
lmao. and the winner is….tapioca.
inspiration:something inspired, as an idea.
Plagiarism: the unauthorized use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one’s own original work, as by not crediting the author.
Cause i think Bey has the two confused.
@angelina
Whatever, you and the rest of her fans need to realize your girl is a theif. She is always talking about how creative she is when she is not. Good performer, yes, future legend/wonderful artist, no. She NEVER gives credit to the artists she STEALS from, which is the big issues. If you are going to steal, at least credit the person you are “inspired” by.
Beyonce is constantly being caught stealing…she even blatantly did it to Deseree with her Kissing You song. I agree that if she is so “inspired” by these people and it is only to pay homage, then why not say that? She never acknowledges it and simply writes the check to make it go away if she has to.
She has jacked a lot of other people’s stuff and claimed it as her own and IMO that taints it all, even whatever she/her team came up with – how can you be sure it’s her original idea?
but she is an amazing performer and i will still see her in concert whenever i can
Apparently there’s a lot of talk that during an Australian interview Beyonce’s oh so pregnant belly folded in half. Can we get a post on that too if there’s anything juicy to it???
Because I love Beyonce’s magical pregnant belly.
I wonder if people just like to zero in on everything she does and accuse her of copying because they dislike her so much for other reasons.
The link to the YouTube “Copycat” video is interesting because it accuses her of copying from MJ and Janet.
What it fails to mention is that many of MJ’s moves were also inspired/influenced by James Brown. And some of Janet Jackson’s moves were heavily inspired by Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire, The Nicholas Brothers and other great African-American tap dancers of the bygone eras.
Both MJ and Janet have readily acknowledged and admitted these influences. But they did so as an overall thing when it came to discussing their overall work. Everytime they put out a video they didn’t say: We borrowed this from so-and-so. And people don’t seem to feel they were obliged to do this.
I would agree though that she does not have nearly half the talent of an MJ or Janet. They were truly originals – and didn’t “jack” like Beyonce and others today do. It is so easy to be unoriginal these days.
And she probably does need to acknowledge her sources a bit more.
But there is a fine line between inspired/ influenced by and copying.
And BTW, I am not a fan of Beyonce at all. But those are just my thoughts.
The only thing that is original about Beyonce is how she managed to put out an album that sucks this much.
Tapioca her stand need to watch that video
She steals everything.. not original.. I’m over her.
#32
Guess what? MJ SAID he was influenced by James Brown, he was even at his funeral. Beyonce’s talent is no where near the Jacksons. She acts like she is a orginator of many things, she does not give credit to the people she steals from.
@Mia
Both Michael Jackson and Prince said they were inspired by James Brown.
However…you would never look at their moves and say “hey this is EXACTLY what James Brown used to do”
That is the difference with Beyonce.
Just with this video alone, right down to the clothes and bad wig style are identical to this Anne lady’s.
Without permission-that is downright plagiarism and theft.
Why does she have a baby bump somedays and have a flat stomach on other days? It’s the most bizarre thing! Is she even pregnant?
Thank you Brit and Addie. And if you actually READ my comments you will see in the third paragraph that I DID in fact mention that MJ and Janet readily acknowledged that they were influenced by James Brown/The Nicholas Brothers, etc. I was already aware of that, thank you.
I also said in my comments that they never jacked sets, costumes, concepts and actual dance moves as Beyonce does. They had their own originality on everything they did.
Just because you dislike Beyonce, don’t try to distort the overall point I was trying to make -that there is a fine line between being inspired by and copying.
@Mia
I guess I’m confused now. So do you think Beyonce is inspired =using other artist work to gather inspiration or does she steal the ideas =Just using the whole concept without giving the original artist props or asking them permision?
Cos I’m going with the sealing one.
@Addie,
Where did I ever say she wasn’t stealing?
Beyonces pillow baby bends in half!!! Ive been pregnant twice and ive seen many pregnant women and ive never seen a woman stomach deflate EVER!!! Dang beyonce u need that much attn youd fake a pregnacy?? http://cdn.mediatakeout.com/51645/beyonce-photo-d-out-on-friday-without-the-prosthetic-bump-and-look-how-much-smaller-she-is.html
I don’t think people would be so bent out of shape concerning Beyonce if she would give proper credit where it was due.
I agree w/most of the bloggers here. Beyonce is extremely fraudulent. I feel the need to ask the question, can Beyonce be truly “talented/gifted” when most of her schtick is jacked almost verbatim…or is she just a glorified singer/dancer?
@Love Angelina…your comments are fraught w/inconsistencies. Especially the ‘Whats even more annoying is that Beyonce is a perfectly sweet girl and she doesn’t need to steal anyone’s anything.’ What does “being sweet” have anything to do w/whether or not they steal anything? I think you are being oppositional for attention. I used to pay attention to your posts…maybe not so much now.
@Mia. This confused me:
And she probably does need to acknowledge her sources a bit more.
But there is a fine line between inspired/ influenced by and copying.
======================================
So which side of the line do YOU think she is on …inspired by or copying other artists?
There’s a difference between inspiration and downright thievery. Down to the exact poses and even wardrobe. Beyonce’s talent does not negate the fact that she is an unartistic thief with zero creativity.
LOL! What’s new? Come on people wake up. This is her MO! I shouldn’t say this because some people may think I’m a hater but the stealing is in the pudding!
LOL! What’s new? Come on people wake up. This is her MO! I shouldn’t say this because some people may think I’m a hater but the stealing is in the pudding!
I was on her side during that other fiasco but this is just ridiculous already lol
I wish someone would stop just accusing her and actually sue her. Then she have some official explaining to do.
Inspiration and copying are two different things (thanks to the poster who kindly provided definitions)… and while some argue there’s a finer line than those definitions stipulate Ms Knowles is consistently on the wrong side of it.
I think she thinks she’s ‘too big’ to take on (legally) and so will get away with it. Unless she believes her own interviews and really thinks she is this amazing tour de force of originality in which case she needs more than a lawyer.
you guys… there’s proof that Beyonce is faking her baby bump. Mediatakeout has photographic evidence- it’s their number one story ..seriously celebitchy was right all along..she’s faking the bump!
wow… ya I would say she ripped it off. And I agree… I could write crap songs and still have a fresh idea for a vid… and her Husband is nuts! Hope this chick sues her
LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL! OMG! That baby bump flub is priceless! Her expression gives her fraud away totally!
Why would anyone fake being pregnant? I mean is she that much of an attention whore, it was a necessary part of the game? So is she not preggo at all or is she just not that far along? So many questions!
Get a life all of you stop hateing on Bey the time u guys spend on here u could be doing something more productive i’m sure Bet is life is to short for all the Nonsense who cares if she copied some bull she is talented very
she and xtina’s teams are the worst. if they aren’t creative, clever or talented enough to make up their own concepts then maybe they should look for other careers. srsly. i hope every artist that these multi milloinaires ripped off will sue them and get what’s theirs. i hate all sorts of stealing but artistic plagiarism is one of the worst. an artist puts their life, soul and tears into their work. only to be stolen by some rich mediocre talent? no thanks.
@Addie you are exactly right. In all honesty, there is nothing new under the sun. Even what I just said there came from the Bible. But it is true. However, there is a difference between looking at someone’s style, claiming them as an influence, and doing similar themes as opposed to copying choreography and/or lyrics down to the last twirl and trying to claim you’re creative doing it.
@Addie,
I don’t like her and I don’t watch most of her videos, so I have no idea.
Judging by the video on this thread I just viewed, yes there are definitely moves and concepts that are taken from the Belgian dance.
I saw the Girls Rule the World video where she was accused of copying MIA, Vbyz Kartel and some African dancers. I am not familiar with MIA’s work and I am not familiar with the particular song that she apparently stole from Vbyz or the work of the African dancers. So I can’t make a comparison. I read that she acknowleged that she was influenced by the African dancers. I guess Vybz and MIA are suing her. She probably compensated the African dancers.
The Naughty Girl song I immediately recognized the opening lines from a Donna Summer song. I thought this was what lots of artists did these days and was not really regarded as being sneaky or copying, especially if the original artist is compensated. Was Donna Summer compensated? I read that she stole choreography from Fossey for Put A Ring On It. I am only vaguely familiar with a bit of of Fossey’s work from a movie I saw a long time ago.
The Crazy In Love song I just found out through viewing the YouTube clip that the opening hook was borrowed from a 70’s band. Again, I thought borrowing hooks was something artistes these days did on the regular. Does anyone know if this particular band was compensated? I guess they will be suing her if they weren’t. This is what is happening to the Black Eyed Peas now with their “I Got A Feeling”, they are being sued for copying the opening hook and elements of the sound from an earlier song. I listened to both.
There was a perfomance Beyonce did earlier this year at an awards show which was heavily borrowed from a German t.v. personality I think.
I believe that like many celebs she is too empty-headed to actually check with her “creative team” that the dance and visual elements they are borrowing from others are not given their own original and unique twist. She and her team are obviously too lazy, untalented and unoriginal to actually create something brand new. No one could ever accuse Beyonce of being original or overly intelligent.
Every minute she seems to have a new video out.
Whatever. I agree with Love Angelina 100%. This is a non-issue.
pls pls go and see this fake womwn with her fake bump… lol mediatakeout… her belly folded, yes it folded.. her baby is as fake as her hair, nose, writing skills, infack nothing is real on this woman… if you think its photoshop then watch the vid…. shame b
I’ve been a fan of Bey’s music & work ethic since I was a teen. Now at 28, looking back on her career, it makes me sad to see things like this repeated lately, because for someone with SO MUCH drive, focus & ability she doesn’t need to do this. I respect her hardwork more than anything, but she’s different since her D.C. days. I miss the Bey that wore braids, ate Popeye’s & sung about REAL fem-power, not this one who crawls on the floor in pieces of fabric. Why can’t she hire people like Fatima Robinson who worked with Micheal or Tina Landon who worked with Janet? Her choreos are THE WORST. She clearly loves the past, we know that. But, I don’t get why she/team need to take w/o giving credit. There are SO MANY dancers/choreos that would LOVE to work for TeamBey. Instead of going on YouTube looking or stuff to take, they should walk through Julliard or go to some of these dance studios & give some of these kids a chance.
If I were Anne i would sue – its such blatant stealing its pathetic!
How does this woman with no talent of her own win any awards? Im embarrassed for her.
Is Kanye going to get up and talk about how her 100% ripped off video was the best of the year?
The Australian interview you’re looking for is here (sorry for the long URL):
http://beyondgossip.com/2011/10/australian%E2%80%99s-%E2%80%98sunday-night-hd%E2%80%99-interviews-beyonce-talks-about-pregnancy-fall-of-destiny%E2%80%99s-child-more/
@ 0:59 you see her stomach fold…XD I still enjoy her music.
This is a video that has side-to-side comparisons of Beyonce & Cuccarini’s choreography.
“Beyonce Billboard Awards 2011 Performance VS Lorella Cuccarini 2010 performance”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4ZBeUR0UhI
Solution: Just hire the original choreographers.
Just google “Bob Fosse” and “Snake in the Grass” and Michael Jackson, and you’ll see some serious similarities…if not blatant stealing.
@4 Addie – I think there’s a good case that Michael Jackson stole some moves from Bob Fosse. Some of those moves can be seen in the movie “The Little Prince” in Fosse’s Snake dance scene. Also, I think you can find other examples in his other works.
*****
Edit:
@ 64 Tim – Oh wow. U and I posted the same thing, but I didn’t see yours until several minutes after you posted, cuz it took me some time to finish off this post. LOL. I’m glad we both know about Fosse & MJ. 🙂
That top picture looks like she is doing a tribute to Prince. To me it seems such a weird picture, not at all flattering. She is normally very pretty.
Ok,thats too close for comfort.
Beyonce doesn’t have an original bone in her body. But she’s filthy rich and could easily afford to hire creative people to come up with original ideas. Ripping people off is despicable.
Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker should be angry. Furthermore, she and the others Beyonce has copied should sue and put an end to her stealing.
While I love her singing, Beyonce has never had one original idea in her career. She steals and walks over anyone in her way and always has. She’s the R&B version of Lady Gaga.
Dance moves can be stolen. I know that if this were a ballet performance, Bey Bey would have to get permission and likely pay a fee to the original artist before performing on stage or in video. Bey Bey ripped from this artist and she should give credit where credit is due and also give money when money is due. It is not a nonissue because if it were lyrics or music, there would be a lawsuit, and Bey Bey would have to pay either upfront or through royalities.
I said it before: The pregnancy, real or not, is what saved her image of best female artist in the world from the huge blow that her incredibly crappy new album was going to give her. She is everywhere this days and everybody loves her. Of course they do, she is pregnant with the second coming of Michael Jackson and Elvis.
Oh now that is ridiulous she is totally original. Take her latest covered in gteaae/baby oil monstrosity? Why the fuck would anyone else have ever done that before? xx
Famous or non-famous, it’s never fun when someone steals your concept and artistic vision and claims it as her/his own. It’s somebody else’s hard work and you just steal it without acknowledging it.
“Artists” go on and on about respect and creativity but when they’re caught in their lies (like Beyoncé) they always spin it so they are the victims or they paying a “homage” to the real artist. Those real artist don’t need to see their good reputation blasted by some stuck-up rich celebrity who just ripped of his/her work. They don’t understand art if it smacked them in the face. It’s condescending to the real artist in my opinion because they feel they need to homage a relatively unknown or very old work to make it popular in modern culture instead of outright saying/admitting where the original piece comes from so people/fans REALLY know where the originality came from.
But no, they always confess their “inspirations” after they are caught stealing…No respect…
These days if you snap your fingers on camera – Elvis people sues you
If you tap your toes – Chuck Berry’s people sues you
If you twist your hips – every old singer sues you.
And for heavens sake do not open your mouth.
Lesson is: When on camera stand still and make no sounds.
to all u clueless ppl,beyonce said herself this video is a tribute to all of the artists and eras…she even mentioned those who she paid tribute to……HATERS
This person is looking to gain publicity.
Next time I see you folks walking on the streets I going to accuse you of plagiarizing my walk moves, to avoid that you need to find a different way to walk.
I walk upright with one foot in front of the other.
I wish we had a better angle of that baby bump fold video. I’m not arguing the fact that she’s pregnant, just questioning if she’s using another prosthetic device to enhance the size of the bump for the camera.
“Tribute” is cool but if you’re going to lift things whole cloth you should pay royalties. B is certainly someone who can afford to do that.
Weird Al is allowed under copyright law to do “parodies” without getting permission from the original artists. But he never parodies anyone who does not want him to.
A big girl like B should know right from wrong even if it turns out there’s no law on the books that says she can’t do what she did.
Artist to artist, it is what’s known as R-E-S-P-E-C-T.
That is plagiarism. I don’t care about the reasons, I don’t care about who is who. I would sue her. She needs to acknowledge the other artist’s job. She cannot keep stealing intellectual and artistic property, because this is not the first time.
@honeybunz are you on destiny’s rehab? if not, you need to be.
so glad mainstream media is breaking this hef down.
now if only her stans would get a clue and reclaim the positivity in our culture, we’d be all right. Say no to false messages from false people.
Beyonce has been a claiming other people’s work as her own from the beginning. Take, for instance, how she claims she invented the word “bootylicious”: “I wrote the song [Bootylicious], but I wish there was another word I COULD HAVE COME UP WITH if I was going to have a word in the dictionary,” she said to Britain’s TV Hits magazine. She still brings this up occaisionally, I think this year in a Harper’s interview talking about how she needs to come up with a more impowering word for feminism, like she came up with “bootylicious”.
The thing is, I’ve been happily white girl rapping along with Snoop Dogg since 1992, “Your bark was loud, but your bite wasn’t vicious/and them rhymes you were kickin’ were quite bootylicious”.
Now, I don’t know if Snoop made the word up, but Beyonce clearly did not, though she claims to.
Heck, she even stole the credit for coming up with the idea to use sample “Edge of Seventeen” in Bootylicious… although this has been disputed by the writer/producer who claims it was his idea, but was strong armed at the time by Mathew Knowles who said,”People don’t want to hear about Rob Fusari, producer from Livingston, N.J. No offense, but that’s not what sells records. What sells records is people believing that the artist is everything.”
So, why wouldn’t she steal a choreographer’s work and claim it as her own, only to claim her “work” was “inspired by” the original artist once the internet blew up and called her on it? She’s been taught to do this from the beginning.
She’s an overrated fake faker. And this is a super long post. Sorry.
This could reasonably be called a tribute IF Beyonce had credited her “inspirations” at either the beginning or end of her video. The fact that many of her young fans are not aware of the people she copied from and that someone else had to point out her appropriations loudly indicates she stole ideas. Taking ideas from artists who are obscure or have been dead a long time ago, then passing that off as your own is plagiarizing, something Madonna has done many times in her career. Plus, this is not the first time Beyonce has been caught doing this. If she had first gotten permission and/or paid royalties, this would be a non-issue.
This from a woman who sells you boxed hair color by whipping around her extentions. Why is this shocking?
of course she is
this is not the first, second that she stole
the woman don’t have talent
You can be sued for plagiarism of choreography. Swiss/French choreographer Maurice bejart was convicted of it in the 90s-coincidently it was another Belgian choreo he copied. But realistically the copying happens all the time, although not usually as blatantly as this.
Glad that no everyone buys into the “Beyonce is a future legand” bit.
She can dance and can somewhat sing.
However I was watching a Tina Turner video last night and thought to myself that Beyonce will never have what women like Tina have, yet she is forcing this to happen.
I must say ,I am glad she used the African dancers in Run the World.
Being South African myself, I know the dance style originated round here and is VERY popular…So glad she brought it out for the world to see modern African dance moves 🙂
She had no choice but to credit them because that Tofo Tofo was way popular, and definitely in the black community. She had no choice.
For a bitch that never “goes on the internet” she certainly spends a lot of time going on youtube for her inspiration.
Lie no. 7,676,054.
even her live performances aren’t original. she always morphs into the artist she is ‘collaborating’ with. Her current stage performance is a jump off of Tina Turner’s live Shows. They performed together at some award show, and B has been ‘doing’ Tina ever since. Prior to that it was Shakira.
It really winds me up when people praise her current live shows and all i see is a very bad Tina Turner impression. Down to the scantily clad female back up dancers.
It saddens me that younguns will never see Tina Turner live.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wz7InzhwJTo
I just found this out today. so disappointed. I thought Single Ladies was just the greatest – great song, great moves. then it turns out that the dance has also been lifted from Bob Fosse. Sorry but this goes too far.
that single ladies song/dance was horribly annoying and stupid anyhow
@Moo hoo
Wow, the whole Single Ladies thing was just plain theifed. She can’t pretend there was any “homage” there!
She and Gag-gag, aka Lady Xerox, need to get sued. A lot.
Edit: To remove double post.
No one is complaining about inspiration. A lot of artists take inspiration from other artists. Inspiration is seeing something and letting that drive you to create something new and maybe taking small bits and pieces and making it your own. Inspiration is not just doing it over 100%.
Also Bey could have added Anne’s name as a co-choreographer of the video. She or the director (beyonce is co-director which people seem to fail to mention when they’ve tried to blame Adria) could have mentioned the names of the “germans” they were inspired by. Even the fact that they said Germans when Anne is Belgian seems like a way for them to get around acknowledging her.
Ugh…people are saying she looks like Audrey Hepburn. She wishes she looked like her.. gawd I wish she would just go away
anne_000
wow.. that video is an eye-opener. There are too many similarities for it to be sheer chance.
With that in mind.. let’s add a special thanks to tapioca and pyewacket for having backup that bey bey does actually claim to be original. with added bonus in this vid also having many more examples of bey’s copycatting. Again there’s too many examples for it to be sheer coincidence. it’s not just the choreography that’s copied either(uncluding dancer placement, not just the movements) .. it’s the combo of that choreography with just rhythym instruments behind it.
we have a pattern.
i find it very fitting that bey bey played the copycat character in Dreamgirls.. too bad the real bey doesn’t have her Dreamgirl character’s conscience.
What shows bey’s true character here is her side-stepping that happens AFTER she’s called out. She doesn’t volunteer this info in the behind the music type interviews. She totally avoids mentioning specific works until someone else finds out that she ripped someone off.
Much like blohan did a few times for her “fashion line” remember that?
side note: the australian intervew #62 links to? that link now leads to a 404.. methinks someone is hiding it?
Regarding the Single Ladies vid.. what I also found interesting is again, how obvious bey was doing the sex object thing. i found a vid in slo-mo for those who want a close look at her dance moves and there’s a lot of pelvic thrusts, pelvic gyration, and bouncing her butt even when her butt is away from the camera.
I’m confused both by how she gets away with copying.. and also.. Why is she considered a model of female empowerment?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SL4zpOohoNM